Le Tampon Population and Area (Réunion)
Largest city in France 2026: up-to-date figures for Le Tampon (Réunion)
Le Tampon: Population and Area
With 83,518 inhabitants (INSEE total population in force on January 1, 2026), Le Tampon is the 58th most populous town in France in 2026 and the 4th most populous in the Réunion department, out of 24 communes. It covers 165 km² (70th largest area in France, 5th largest in the department), with a population density of 505 inhabitants per km², or 4.6 times the national average (110 inhabitants/km²), which ranks it 1,839th in France for density.
Le Tampon is located in the Réunion department (974), in the Réunion region, where it ranks 4th by population out of 24 communes. The most populous town in the Réunion department is Saint-Denis (157,142 inhabitants); the department is home to 899,660 people over 2,504 km².
See the full ranking of communes in the Réunion department and the regional ranking: largest city in Réunion.
Towns of similar size in the Réunion department: Saint-Denis (pop. 157,142), Saint-Paul (pop. 109,405), Saint-Pierre (pop. 85,927), Saint-André (pop. 59,351), Saint-Louis (pop. 55,653), Saint-Joseph (pop. 39,763).
Sources: INSEE, official population figures in force on January 1, 2026 (total population); areas: IGN / Observatoire des territoires; INSEE code 97422. Rankings are calculated across the 34,858 communes of metropolitan and overseas France in our database.
Le Tampon, the big town of Réunion's highlands
Le Tampon is the fourth most populous town in Réunion, and the only one of the island's large towns without a coastline: it spreads across the southern highlands, above Saint-Pierre, up to the Plaine des Cafres and the approaches to the volcano.
A huge commune with rapid growth
Neither a prefecture nor a subprefecture, Le Tampon has had one of the strongest population booms in Réunion: its high-altitude farmland, cooler than the coast, was gradually subdivided to welcome families from all over the island. Its territory, one of the largest in Réunion, explains a low density for a town of this importance, with a dense urban center and vast rural areas. The town is also home to a campus of the University of Réunion and, together with Saint-Pierre, forms the heart of the southern urban area.